After plunging his hammer into Ego’s brain, Thor is hit by a psychic wave, forcing him to witness the long-ago birth of Ego.

Once, there was a culture facing extinction as their sun was going nova. They had no ability to escape via space travel, so instead they hatched a plan to shield themselves from the nova in suspended animation. However, there was an error in their calculations, and the nova flared before they were ready. The shielding was not in place, and one man named Egron (not to be confused with Igron), was not yet in suspended animation, and somehow the nova cause a transformation, combining the planet, the man, and the life force of the remaining two billion people into a single entity. That apparently is how one creates a living bio-verse that exists out of shift with our own universe. It is not clear if Ego then traveled to the Black Galaxy, or if the Black Galaxy formed around it.

Thor recovers from this vision and hits Ego’s brain some more, this time with energy blasts from Mjolnir. Galactus tells his allies that it is time for them to go. While Thor, Hercules and Firestorm were keeping Ego distracted, Galactus bolted some Sidereal engines onto Ego, and set him blasting off into space uncontrollably, neutralizing him as a threat.

The job now complete, Firestorm asks if he might now be freed from his servitude to Galactus. Galactus puts it on Thor: If Thor can find a replacement, Galactus will release Firestorm. Thor suggests the Destroyer, and so they retrieve the supremely powerful creation Odin had created in order to defend Asgard, and give it to Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds. It was right where they had left it.

“In Search of… Ego!” And now a return to former glory– produced in all its pom and panoply by Gerry Conway, writer * Rich Buckler, artist/ inking: Joe Sinnott/ lettering: John Costanza/ coloring: P. Goldberg/ Roy Thomas, editor

It has become clear that Ego the Living Planet is once again a hostile force, and possibly insane. Thor, Hercules and Firestorm fight the creations of Ego until they find a crevice that leads deep within Ego. They travel downward into the very center of Ego, where they find the giant brain of Ego the Living Planet. Thor smashes it with his hammer. It explodes.

Galactus returns to Earth in order that he might parlay with Thor. It seems that recently Galactus made a scond attempt to feed upon Ego the Living Planet, only to be soundly defeated.

The Ego that Galactus describes is an insane creature of pure rage. Galactus asks Thor and Hercules to join him in an attack against Ego. Thor speculates that Tana Nile’s act of harvesting Ego Prime may have driven the Living Planet insane, and agrees to accompany Galactus to investigate his claims. Hercules decides to tag along.

The two gods, Firestorm, and Galactus together travel to the Black Galaxy. Ego senses Thor and immediately deems him a traitor, and begins attacking the ship. Thor and his allies fend off the assault and land on the surface of Ego.

The Destroyer holds Mjolnir and Thor faces the threat of the 60 Second Rule. However, he is able to mentally will the hammer to return to his hand, an ability he never used to have. Another effect of re-enchantment?

Hercules somehow finds the empty body of Clement Holmes, the scientist who’s spirit possesses the Destroyer. He brings it back to the Destroyer and for some unclear reason, Holmes returns to his rightful body. Thor and Hercules depart, leaving the empty Destroyer lying in the middle of the street.

With the action over, Thor becomes Blake once again, so that he might tend to tend to Krista. When Hercules marvels that Thor would ever want to become a frail mortal, Blake comments “When I’m Blake, I don’t care about Thor. And when I’m Thor, Don Blake is just yesterday’s bad dream.”

Meanwhile, Firelord, the current servant of Galactus has come to Earth. Firelord is some sort of man that is on fire, wielding a staff that is also on fire. When he enters the hospital, he soon starts a fight with hot-tempered Hercules.

It is with extreme reluctance that Blake becomes Thor yet again, grimly bemoaning, “I never really had a choice, after all… I’ve never really been Don Blake…only Thor. On that somber note, Thor joins Hercules in fighting Firelord. When Thor arrives, Firelord simply gazes into the heavens and shoots cosmic fire from his eyes, in order to summon his master, Galactus.

Loki, in the guise of Thor, has begun wreaking havoc in the streets of New York. He is reveling in his new-found strength, smug in his belief that his brother will take the blame for all of his actions. Thor-as-Loki cannot stand by while Loki-as-Thor behaves in this manner, and so he charges at his brother, ready for battle.

As the brother’s fight, Odin checks in on Thor’s progress. Seeing Thor and Loki fight, he angrily teleports the god he believes to be Loki to his chambers. Odin will not let “Loki” speak, so angered is he over Loki’s recent misdeeds. Instead he commits “Loki” to Hades!

Back on Midgard, Balder and Sif battle “Thor” who they are now rightly convinced is truly Loki. However, after Loki acts really creepy to Sif, y’know, in a sex way, Balder uses the power of his Odin-blessed blade to transport Sif back to Asgard away from “Thor.” Soon after, Loki trounces him.

Once she arrives in Asgard, Sif wastes no time in searching for her beloved. While Odin studies the menace of Galactus in his chambers, Sif finds an unnamed vizier of Odin’s, who directs her to the Cosmi-Screen so that she might see Loki’s fate.

Thor has been sent to hell with Loki’s face, where he meets its lord, Mephisto, otherwise known as Satan. Mephisto soon realizes that it is not Loki before him, but rather pure-hearted Thor. Delighted by this twist, Mephisto sends one threat after another to menace him. Eventually, Thor cries out, “Is this to be the fate of Thor? To do senseless battle – without reason – without end?” When put like that, it is unclear just how being in hell differs from Thor’s day-to-day life.

Sif rounds up Hogun, Fandral and Volstagg, and soon the four of them, aided by the Vizier, use the power of the Odin Helmet to travel to Hades in order to rescue their friend, only to discover that Mephisto has already frozen Thor-as-Loki in a block of ice!

Galactus was once a man. An unnamed inhabitant of the world Taa, during a time when the universe was young, this man alone was immune to a creeping plague that was traveling from world to world.

Eventually this plague came to Taa and killed billions. At the very end, the last few survivors of the plague, this man included, piloted a ship straight into their sun, the largest sun in all the universe. It was a defiant fuck-you blaze of glory for a doomed people.

All the other inhabitants of the ship perished. However, somehow this one man survived and through this crucible was forever changed.

In the stories of the Marvel Universe, there is a being known as the Watcher who has meddled in the affairs of Earth several times. Despite allegedly being bound by an oath of non-interference, the Watcher has frequently helped shape the events on Earth. For instance, it was only through his aid that Earth survived the coming of Galactus. Eons ago, the Watcher found and rescued the man who was to be Galactus after the doomed attempt to fly into the sun.

After all he had been through, some unknown mechanism changed this man into something far different from what he had been. The Watcher alone wast there to witness this transformation from man into comic force. The Watcher knew that he was seeing the birth of something terrible. He could have killed this man before he was reborn, but he stayed his hand. The die was cast.

This cosmic force, no longer a man, created a ship and raiment and tools for his task. When he was finished,he sealed himself in his incubator cube, which drifted in space for untold centuries until finally he emerged as Galactus.

This story told by Galactus serves as prologue to the events revealed in issue #162. In that issue it was stated that the war-torn planet that released Galactus was “the planet that gave him birth.” Maybe his departure from the Incuba-Cell was the “birth” of Galactus, but maybe the Incuba-Cell fell into orbit around Taa after he sealed himself within. Untold thousands of years after the plague, civilization began anew. The new people of Taa would look up to the heavens and wonder what secrets lay with the strange cube in the sky. Finally the day would come when the Incuba-Cell was cracked open and Taa would die a second death.

Upon the completion of Galactus’ tale, Odin projects himself before Thor. He has heard what he needs to hear, and Thor’s task is complete. His penance for his Warrior’s Madness paid.

Odin pronounces “Galactus’ time is not yet come!”, before abruptly transporting Thor to Earth, to join his friends in battle against the Thermal Man.

Thor departs in the Odinship, into the unknown of outer space and is immediately lonely. “Already my heart doth hunger for the sight of Sif– for the glories of Asgard– and the mysteries of Earth!” This homesickness is cut short by the near-immediate capture of the Odinship.

Galactus, knowing that Thor sought him out, has brought the thunder god direct to him, wishing to parlay. With the help of a Visi-Cloud of mist, Galactus prepares to tell Thor his story.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Balder has been joined by Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg who had the same idea a Balder re: protecting the Earth. Much like Thor, they do not believe in paying for things, helping themselves to a newspaper before retreating to Doctor Blake’s apartment, to try to get a handle on this strange world so dear to their friend.

Meanwhile the Chinese army has developed a giant atomic-powered android named “the Thermal Man.” Newly completed, the Thermal Man is rocketed to the United States, sent to destroy all that it finds. It begins attacking the city, but before long it has caught the attention of the four Asgardians who had been slowly wrecking Doctor Blake’s apartment.

With Thor being sentenced to search for Galactus, Balder decides to return to Earth to protect it on behalf of Thor. This is observed by Karnilla, who is using her sorcery screen to spy on the object of her heart. Loki is visiting her, watching the proceedings with interest, when Haag brings the queen a sculpture of Balder, fashioned out of mystic Enchanti-Clay. Loki sees an angle, and grabs the sculpture. Whatever fate befalls the sculpture, befalls Balder, and so Loki clouts the doll on the head, which badly injures Balder on Midgard.

Before Thor heads out on his quest to seek Galactus, he petitions Odin for the chance to set his affairs in order on Earth. This request is granted and Thor returns to Earth, where he soon finds his friend, now badly injured thanks to Loki. Naturally, he transforms into the foremost expert of Asgardian medicine on Earth, Doctor Donald Blake. Immediately, Loki attacks Blake, grabbing his walking stick. No sleight of hand this time.

Loki is lording over Blake’s powerlessness, when the image of Odin appears before him, compelling Loki to return the cane. Loki refuses; he has rightfully won the cane in battle by the rules of the Code Imperial. Odin counters by saying whoever holds Mjolnir must search for Galactus. That is enough to get Loki to return the stick and depart.

Blake performs a brilliant life-saving surgery on Balder before departing to begin his quest. As he leaves, his doctor colleagues comment on Blake. He is brilliant but he is strange and so rarely to be found.

This is Vince Colletta’s last issue of Thor. For the past 50 odd issues, Vince the Prince has delineated the art of King Kirby. He’s not remembered as one of the great Kirby inkers, nor should he be, (Such is the power of Kirby that “Kirby Inkers” is a specific topic of discussion and debate) but Kirby’s Thor is in a very real way Colletta’s Thor. His “scratchy” style on Kirby’s pencils helped give Thor a different look than Kirby’s other Marvel output.

Now safe from Galactus, a grateful Ego hurls Thor and the Recorder through the vacuum of space back to Rigel. As they travel, the Recorder points out that while Galactus might spare Ego, he is still out in space, free to destroy worlds. It’s a real muddy trousers situation for Thor.

Back on Rigel, the High Commissioner wants to deactivate the Recorder to more easily access his memory banks. Thor comes to his friend’s defense, persuading the High Commissioner that the Recorder has a soul and cannot be so easily decommissioned.

After saying his farewells to his Rigelian comrades, Thor returns to Asgard. He meets Odin in his Astro-Chamber along with other Asgardians, including Hogun, Volstagg and Fandral. They discuss the present threat that Galactus poses and they research the devourer’s origins.

They learn that Galactus was birthed in an Icuba-Cell at the climax of a terrible space war. The losing side released him out of desperation, but Galactus turned against them and began feeding off of all living energy, destroying the planet.

After this conference, one of Odin’s counselors pulls aside Thor with news. In Thor’s absence, Sif left for Earth before disappearing ominously. Upon hearing this, Thor travels to Earth to find his mate and fight by her side.

Meanwhile, Balder has found himself plagued by visions of Karnilla the Norn Queen. He has fallen under the spell of love, although with Karnilla that is probably literally true. For one as pure as Balder to feel this way about a sworn enemy of Asgard is pure agony. His only hope for distraction is to seek out Thor and fight him.

Ego and Galactus clash in a battle that defies human understanding. Although Galactus is depicted as a colossal helmet-clad man, and Ego is depicted a sphere with the giant face, it is clear that these are illusions, that each of their true natures is far weirder and cosmic than our limited human understanding. The two titans shout at each other through the vacuum of space and it seems that however great the might of a bio-verse may me, the might of Galactus is even greater.

While the cosmic monsters battle, the Wanderers save Thor and the Recorder. When it becomes clear that Galactus is going to defeat Ego, Thor prepares to challenge Galactus. The Recorder, who can only observe, is determined to make sure his observations be up to the task at hand. “Perma-circuits activated for maximum recording! All that transpires shall be impressed upon my electronic brain! But son of Odin… have a care… let me not record… your death!!”

Thor leaves the Wanderer’s ship and hurls Mjolnir straight at Galactus. To the shock of Galactus, for the first time in a millennium he feels pain upon being struck. Needless to say, this draws his attention away from Ego. Galactus destroys the Wanderer’s ship and grabs Thor in his mighty hand.

He hurls Thor toward the living planet, however Ego cushions Thor’s fall. Ego also saves and protects the Wanderers as well as the Recorder. On the surface of Ego, in the heart of the Black Galaxy, Thor and the Wanderer’s create a stand upon which to mount Enchanted Mjolnir. Once placed in that mount, Thor unleashes the full power of the storm and directs it straight at Galactus.

Such is the strength of Thor’s hammer that Galactus wilts. Feeling agony and fearing death, Galactus retreats to his ship and flees. Thor and his allies celebrate their victory, despite the fact that the danger of Galactus has not been destroyed, merely redirected. In gratitude, Ego offers to become a paradise to the Wanderers who may live upon him forever, “until the end of time.”

Tana Nile of the Collectors has come to Earth seeking Thor. She begs his help with a threat that, if left unchecked, could cause the universe itself to crumble. This threat is none other than Galactus, a threat that has claimed countless worlds, snuffing out untold numbers of civilizations. The Collectors have been able to hide from Galactus with a planetary shield, but for some unexplored reason, this technology is now failing. After hearing Nile’s tale, Thor agrees to fight this destroyer.

Meanwhile on Asgard, the Recorder has been hanging out with Odin, but now finds itself called back to Rigel and so departs. As it leaves, Sif begs leave of Odin to go to Thor’s side. Odin denies her request, as he senses grave danger. Sif is a fearless warrior who has never in these pages flinched at danger or turned her back on a soul in need. Yet at every turn the men in her life, Thor, Balder, Odin, try to shield her from danger. To her credit, she pushes back and calls them out in every instance, but still these assholes refuse to treat her as an equal.

Thor leaves Tana Nile behind as he meets up with his old companion the Recorder. Together, they seek Galactus, traveling in some sort of space hot rod. The path to Galactus is easy enough to navigate. They simply follow the grim trail created by the staggering number of refugee ships that radiate outward from the remains of the destroyed worlds left in the devourer’s wake.

One such ship begins following the hot rod. This ship belongs to the Wanderers, a race of people claiming to be Galactus’ original victims. They follow Thor on a hunch, hoping his ship may lead to sanctuary… or revenge.

Thor finds Galactus just as the devourer has finally found Ego, the Living Planet. For one such as Galactus, what could be a a more tempting prize than to consume a living bio-verse? However, Ego does not not intend to go without a fight, the opening salvos of which destroy Thor and the Recorder’s space hot rod.

Several months prior to this story, in the pages of Stan and Jack’s other fantasti-classic series, Fantastic Four, a character named Galactus was introduced. Galactus is a giant cosmic presence beyond good and evil from the other side of the center of the universe. This being travels from world to world, feeding on the energy of planets, reducing them to lifeless husks. Galactus had intended to feed upon Earth in this manner, but Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four threatened to destroy the universe if Galactus tried, and so the cosmic devourer agreed to forever leave Earth in peace.

Thor and his buddy the Recorder return to Rigel, where the Collectors honor their agreement to mark the Earth as off-limits. As they leave the Black Galaxy, they unwittingly pass Galactus as he heads into the Black Galaxy, intending to feed upon Ego.

Thor returns to Earth as Tana Nile departs it. She may have lost the Earth, but she returns to Rigel, where she has been chosen by the High Commissioner to be his wife. Thor, meanwhile, has been left with a Psyche-Search Gauge with which to find his hypnotized beloved.

He finds her in a bizarre compound in Europe known as Wundagore, which is guarded by animal-people riding rocket sleds. The leader of these people is known as the High Evolutionary, a man who has developed a technique to re-write the genes of animals, advancing their evolution one million centuries, which turns them into humanoids with animal heads. Since this is not remotely how evolution actually works, I would suggest that that this explanation is meant as a metaphor for the actual process at work. A lie-to-idiots, if you will.

The Knights of Wundagore attempt to restrain Thor from barging into their compound, but the God of Thunder will not be restrained. Thor finds Jane, who has taken a job teaching the animal-folk created by this weird science. Thor mistrusts this science stuff, but Jane is a woman of science, and assures him that there is nothing inherently evil about experimenting on animals to create a race of New-Men. Good on her.

Thor’s breaking and entering and shouting and fighting has distracted the High Evolutionary at a critical moment, and he has accidentally over-evolved a wolf! This combination of supreme man and supreme beast has created a hate-fuled Man-Beast, enemy of all that is living!

First Appearance: The High Evolutionary, Wundagore, the New-Men, The Man-Beast, Psyche-Search Gauge